Golden Glow
by Mooncloudpanther
Summary: Sundara, a sunda clouded leopard, had never expected to lose everything again. The fall of Thundera and death of all of the clerics except for her and Cheetara was never something she could have foreseen. She also could never have foreseen that she would ever end up caring for her King as much as she does during the cats' journey to defeat Mumm-Ra and collect the Power Stones.


**Chapter One: The Sword of Omens**

She walked through a crowded street, paw-in-paw with an adult sunda clouded leopard tom, who glanced down at her with warm golden eyes. He looked up and stopped abruptly, eyes widening in dread and disbelief. After a long moment, the tom slowly turned to her and crouched down. "Sorry, Little One." He ruffled her pale blonde, black speckled mane with a sad smile, then stood and tossed his brown cloak's hood up as he dashed into the crowd...

Pebbles clattered down the small slope as two she-kittens ran past, breathing heavily. They scampered around a sudden corner and into an alleyway, the grayish-yellow one clutching her paws to her chest, eyes wide with shock. The other stuck her head out of the alley after a breathless minute.

Laughing breathlessly in relief, the cream-colored she-kitten slid down the downgraded old and cracked exterior stone, looking at her with her differently colored eyes, her left brown and her right blue, and a decidedly cheeky grin.

* * *

Sundara blearily opened her eyes to early morning sunlight filtering through her window's thin curtains. Goraning, she pulled her blankets, her haven of warmth, closer around her and nuzzled her fluffy pillow, which smelled of honey blossoms - several of which she had stuffed in her pillow case. Breathing in the scent deeply, she closed her eyes and began to drift back into blissful sleep...

When her bedroom door opened. "I had a feeling," The elder tom started, "That you would try to sleep in today." Sundara groaned in response and stubbornly remained laying on her stomach, arms tucked against her sides and under her pillow. He chuckled breathily, "Come now, Sundara. It is a beautiful morning and there is much to be done before Lion-O's ceremony." The jaguar said, opening her curtains completely.

She shot up quick as a flash, keeping her blankets wrapped around her torso, and grabbed for her clothes, as she generally only slept in her undergarments, and today was no exception. Her door, on the opposite wall of her room, closed with a _click_ as he left her room.

Half scrambling, she pulled her two-tone brown short-sleeved and hooded shirt on, which left her mid-section exposed. She spent a moment fixing her seams so that the light brown of her shirt cupped her chest, as it was supposed to, and the surplice neckline overlapped correctly, then secured her small pack under her large hood. Next, she grabbed her light brown leggings and pulled them on as she swung her legs off of her bed, followed in suit by her dark brown footwear with golden trims, which slanted so that the front was taller than the back. Standing, the sunda clouded leopard grabbed her dark brown, golden trimmed, pocketed thigh-guards, which were secured around her waist by an equally dark belt with a miniature satchel located on the belt's back. Finishing her attire were slanted dark brown fingerless elbow-length gloves with golden trims, and a pale slate blue-gray hooded cloak with white fur trims and darker slate 'pauldrons', also trimmed with fur.

The cloak was a gift from her teacher, the jaguar - Jaga. It was special, so she wore it only during formal occasions.

With a small smile, she began to brush through her longer than waist-length pale blonde mane, dusted by black speckles that gradually blurred into solid black at its tips, in front of her simple ballroom mirror. Her door opened and Jaga entered, holding something in his paws. Sighing quietly, she offered him the brush. "I could have been in middle of dressing."

The tom accepted the brush and continued gently brushing the knots out of mane, "But you were not." Not having a proper response, Sundara remained quiet, allowing him to finish brushing her mane out and weaving it into it's usual almost waist-length braid.

When he gently set the brush down, she turned to inspect the braid in her mirror. A light blue ribbon had been weaved into her tresses, tying into a small bow at its end, with an excess five inch tail of black. "Thank you, Jaga." Sundara said, turning to him with a small smile.

Jaga smiled in return and turned away, "Remember to prepare the Sword of Omens for the ceremony." He reminded her.

She nodded, "Of course." Her teacher had spent the last week teaching and showing her how to prepare and care for the Sword of Omens properly, and she had no intention of letting him down.

He looked back at her before he left the room, "And do attend the ceremony." She dipped her head and, after a moment, followed him into the hall and down to the Breakfast Hall, where the 'other' clerics were eating. While Sundara was considered a cleric, she wasn't an actual one, as she lacked one of the two defining traits that defined a cleric - the one time, itself, could not grant: speed. Jaga had taken her in with a different intention than making her a cleric, per ce, in mind.

Unlike other cats, who had to be trained to use magic, Sundara was able to use magic naturally. A trait which intrigued him and ultimately made him decide to take her in to teach her.

It was during the time when she lived at the orphanage that she met Jaga, who had seen her using magic. Shortly afterwards, he had offered to take her in and teach her mastery over magic. At first, she had been reluctant to accept, but she had accepted because learning how to use her magic _properly_ had always been a dream of hers.

Somewhere along the way, the other clerics had adopted her as one of them, to the extent Sunda, another sundaland clouded leopard, had once reassured her that she was as much a clerics as the rest of them - _"You're just the slow one."_ He'd said.

Sundara distinctly recalled giving the taller tom a withering look as he grinned and mussed up her mane, absolutely unamused. She had yet to get back at him for that, and it had to have been several months by now. She grinned, he'd probably forgotten about it, but it was probably about time she got back to him...

Paint. She would need a lot of paint.

The details of her 'vengeance' quickly began to string themselves out and organize themselves. By the time she took her first bite of breakfast, she was going back and mostly fool-proofing her plan. If she was the slow one, Sunda would be the colorful one. Sundara went through a check-list of what she would need, including two cans of seven different colors each and a very large bucket, as she continued eating her serving of sweet-tasting garjel fruit - small red spheres with strange spike-like protrusions around the stem - and cold meat sided by an egg.

Not half-way through her meal, she spotted Sunda, who was nearly a full head taller than her (of course, she was shorter than most cats), standing up from having finished his own plate of food. He was already wearing his Cleric's robes, and was pulling his mask-like helmet on, but left the white cloth face cover down.

Ah, so he was on duty this morning. Perfect, she could get him in the afternoon or evening.

Sunda left and the grayish-yellow she-cat finished eating, then left to perform her tasks. From the still-low position of the sun and dim-early morning light that cast deep shadows, Sundara could tell that not much time had passed since she woke up, maybe an hour and a half. That gave her plenty of time to prepare the Sword of Omens for the ceremony at mid-day.

Spring in her step, she climbed the stairs to the Palace, Cat's Lair, and navigated her way to the Sword of Omens' chamber. Truthfully, she had been honored when Jaga requested that she take up the task of preparing the Sword of Omens just a week ago, but she also felt nervous and anxious.

Sundara opened the door to the smaller chamber, where the Sword of Omens resided in it's standing-up case of finely polished wood. On a pillow on a small table beside the sword's case lay the the Claw, the guantlet. And layed out beside that were all of the things she would need to prepare the sword.

* * *

After careful, tedious, but fulfilling preparation of the Sword of Omens, Sundara left it in the capable hands of the cleric Cheetara. And, still having close to two hours before the ceremony would begin - that was enough time to acquire fourteen cans of paint, _if_ one knew where to look.

And Sundara knew where to look.

She grinned and took the nearest exit out of the Royal Quarter and into the Merchant Quarter. From there, she followed the winding road for sometime, dodging and weaving her way through the bustle of cats. She felt horribly out of place in her fine cloak, all too aware of some cats staring after her. None of them would even be able to tell she was a cleric, they'd just think she were some noblecat's daughter, out exploring without supervision. The looks some of them gave her were dirty, as if to say...

_"Go home! You don't belong!" She shied away while the cream-colored she-kitten stepped in front of her protectively, growling at the offender._

Sundara stopped in front of the store, smiling fondly. It had been, perhaps, _too_ long since she had seen the quaint establishment. It still had a charming pot of flowers in the sill of its picturesque window, next to its simple, but inviting wooden door. The flowers were different, but familiar, and the door had recieved a new stain-and-paint job.

Smile persistantly spreading, the grayish-yellow she-cat pushed the door open and walked inside. Similarily to the door, the walls and floors had been recently re-done, giving the place a warm glow. Not quite the same, but close enough. Sundara's eyes landed on an also changed, but familiar figure sweeping, who, upon hearing the bell, looked up. The gray she-cat's blue eyes, including her blind one, and she happily called out a freeting and rushed over, wrapping her arms around the sunda clouded leopard and dropping the broom on the glossy-looking wooden floor. "Look at you!" Ceclia exclaimed, "You've grown up, Little One!" She pulled back and emotionally dabbed at an eye.

Ceclia had been - and still was, as far as Sundara knew - one of the attendants at the orphanage she had spent much of her own cubhood at. Of all of the adults, the half-blind Ceclia had been the only one she had bonded with, often spending her days here, at River-Way, with the she-cat when she wasn't actively working at the orphanage. Sundara and her best - and only - friend would help Ceclia take care of things around her family's shop when they were here.

Sundara only felt bad for not visiting more often or sooner, but smiled as Ceclia circled around her to examine her. It was good to see her again. "You've grown up into a beautiful young she-cat." She said, clasping her paws around one of Sundara's own paws. "I'm so proud."

Sundara dipped her head, still smiling. "Thank you, Ceclia. You are looking quite beautiful yourself."

Ceclia smiled and brushed Sundara's left fringe behind her ear tenderly. "Thank you, Little One." After a moment, the other she-cat pursed her lips. "Can I see?" She asked, eyes hopeful. Ceclia had always encouraged Sundara with her magic, it was only natural she would be curious to see it after all these years of studying and training.

Sundara nodded and gently slid her paw out of Ceclia's. She cupped her pale-furred paws and a small ball of white light formed. The leopard smiled as it traced upwards, then split apart and branched off into different directions, thickening and thinning and dying away to appear elsewhere like a small skip, all the while leaving the wispy, almost tangible outline of a tree.

Ceclia smiled widely again and gingerly reached a paw out to touch one of the orbs of light, which spiralled up around her arm and danced around her head, splitting apart with each dignant bounce to create leaves and a branch-like weave, before arching back to the tree. The blind-in-one-eye she-cat watched in amazement and wonder as the tree become more and more tree-like, with an actual curvacious and knotted trunk and roots and branches adorned by clusters of leaves at the ends. By the time the last orb faded away, Ceclia had brought both paws to her mouth.

"You've gotten much better," She murmered, lowering her paws. Sundara smiled and tapped one of the branches of the lingering tree. With a crackle and a slight groan, clear crystal spread from the point of contact like rapid-freezing ice over a lake, spreading until the entire tree and its leaves were crystalized.

"Thank you," The grayish-yellow she-cat said with a smile.

"It's _beautiful!_" The other she-cat breathed, placing a paw against it.

Sundara dipped her head again, still smiling, "I'm afraid I can't stay for much longer."

"Oh! Of course, of course! Was there something you needed?"

Sundara's lip twitched. "Paint."

* * *

After procuring the paint and bidding Ceclia farewell, promising to visit soon, Sundara hurried back up to the Royal Quarter, where the paint would be delivered later in the afternoon. Until then, she had a ceremony to attend.

She entered Cat's Lair's main hall with nearly twenty minutes before the ceremony would begin, earning the attention of the King, eldest prince, and her teacher. The prince examined her with interest while the King stood in aggravation. This was when she noticed Prince Lion-O was no where to be seen.

"He knows how important today is! Where is that boy, Jaga?"

Sundara tentatively took the three steps to stand beside her teacher, feeling like a kitten every step in the King's daunting prescence. The lion stood taller and bulkier than most cats, even grizzled war veterans, and he wore a permanently etched-in scowl framed by long red sideburns, effectively reflecting how displeased his teal eyes were.

"Be easy on him, Claudus." Jaga said in a calm monotone, turning to look at the lion, who had visibly calmed after his outburst. "Remember, when you were his age, your father was not always pleased with you either." Sundara lightly rested her paw on her teacher's shoulder for comfort, and he glanced at her reassuringly.

Some cleric _she_ would have turned out to be.

"I never neglected my duties as prince as he does!" The King exclaimed quickly turning to address his only present son. "Why can't he be more like you, Tygra?!"

Tygra raised the paw he was not propped up on and gestured with it. "You're asking for the impossible, Father." He answered, setting his paw back down on the arm of his yellow-backed throne. Sundara couldn't help but feel sorry for the young Crown-Prince.

And so they fell into silence as they waited, Claudus retaking his larger blue-backed throne. His presence was no less intimidating as he glowered at the large front doors of the Palace. Maybe if he were light-hearted, his presence wouldn't be so heavy on the smaller she-cat, who stood a half a head shorter than the average cat.

It was nearly twenty minutes after the bell marking mid-day rang before the doors opened and the red-maned prince rushed in, running down the long marble-floored hall lined by finely crafted columns. King Claudus, Prince Tygra, and Jaga stood before he even got to the stairs, Claudus looking _thoroughly_ displeased.

"Sorry! Sorry, sorry." Lion-O apologized, holding his arms out to either side to emphasize his point.

After a mere heart-beat, Claudus turned to Jaga. "Let us begin this sacred right of passige, Jaga."

Her teacher nodded and took a few steps forward without her, her paw sliding off of his shoulder and falling to her side. Holding his staff up, he said, "Guardians of the Crown, bring forth the Sword of Omens." Sundara's heart beat faster and her stomach twisted. Pushing her doubt away the best she could, she just hoped that she had done good preparing the blade.

Jaga took a few steps back and put a paw on her shoulder, "Do not worry, Sundara. I have faith that you performed your task the best you could." Her doubt clawed its way right back.

"What if my best wasn't very good?" She responded, biting her bottom lip as her doubt nibbled at her confidence. She _thought_ she did well preparing the Sword of Omens...

"Doubt is quite natural. And," He leveled his gaze at her. "Sometimes to trust ourselves, we must trust those that do."

The corner of her lips twitched, "So... trust you?"

A small smile pulled at his features as he turned his head to watch the proceeding of nine clerics approach. The cleric in front was undoubtedly Cheetara, carrying the Sword of Omens resting on a small white sheet and with another draped over it. Cheetara climbed the stairs while the other eight clerics obediently stopped a few yards short of them. Likewise, Cheetara stopped and stood before the King.

"Are you flirting?" Lion-O broke the silence, looking at Tygra. Sundara rolled her eyes in exasperation. _Toms._

Jaga continued with the ceremony, ignoring the interruption. "While you will one day wear the Crown, Lion-O," Jaga pulled the top sheet off of the Sword of Omens, Sundara's heart beat fast and she couldn't help but admire the blade for the millionth time that day. What had she been so worried about? "Only the Eye of Thundera, the source of our power, knows if there is a King inside of you. Take the sword; become one with it."

As he finished speaking, Lion-O stepped forward and grasped the hilt of the Sword of Omens. He raised it and, much like Sundara, admired it.

Cheetara moved to stand off to the side beside her and Jaga, and the King began to speak as his son descended the stairs to give the sword a few skillful, yet clumsy, test swings. "You hold in your paws what built the Thundercats' Empire. But only he who is deemed worthy can harness its awesome power."

Tygra grabbed what Sundara realized was an ordinary sword while his father said, "Let me show you what it is capable of in the proper paws." And they descended the three steps. The King strode over to his only blood-son and snatched the Sword of Omens out of his grasp, turned on his heel and took a few steps back towards the five thrones.

"Uh oh!" The tiger prince exclaimed. "Catch!" Was his abrupt warning before he tossed the ordinary sword at his still-shocked brother and wisely backed away towards the base of the steps.

Lion-O caught the blade in time to barely block a vicious strike from his father, blue energy crackling through the air with the swing, Claudus knocked Lion-O back and lunged at him again, likely due to pent-up frustration, and the younger lion almost lost his grip on his sword blocking it. The King continued to assault his son with powerful strikes and crackling energy. The prince didn't stand a chance whatsoever.

"The Book told that it was the Thundercats, our ancestors, who first defeated Mumm-Ra! It was the Thundercats who brought law and order to a world of warring animals! And it is now the Thundercats who have the strength to maintain this fragile peace!" One final strike sent Lion-O crashing to the ground and his sword clattering across the floor. Claudus stabbed the Sword of Omens into the center of the massive Thundercats' insignia on the floor, uncaring of the damage done to the exquisite marble. The sword released a large burst of energy as King Claudus backed away.

Sundara was in awe; she'd never seen the Sword of Omens in use. Heard of it, but never seen it. The stories did not capture its likeness very well, she decided.

They all watched as the energy died down and Lion-O, wearing an expression of pure determination, clasped the sword's hilt and pulled it from the marble. After the first swing, a lesser amount of energy crackled, casting deep shadows.

"That's it! Concentrate!" Claudus called from outside the circle, beside Tygra.

Following his father's advice, the amount of energy that came to life increased more and more with each of his swings until it nearly rivaled the older lion's. With a final horizontal swing bursting with blue electricity, Lion-O slowly lowered the Sword of Omens' tip so that it touched the center of the insignia. He brought it back up so that the Eye of Thundera was level with his own eyes, bending his elbows and squaring his shoulders to bring it close. The stone glowed red, a black cat-eye pupil opening, and the hilt's adornments grew, curving around his now glowing eyes in an almost full circle. And then...

Sundara was hit by the feeling of a dark, evil presence that made her fur stand on end and her skin crawl. She looked around, wide eyed, confused and scared and feeling suddenly cold, but nothing about the hall had changed and it was the middle of Summer.

Just as quickly, Lion-O pulled back and the feeling slowly dissipated. He was clearly as frightened as she had been.

"Lion-O, why did you stop?" The King demanded.

"I... I saw something..." The Crown-Prince turned to his father, shell-shocked.

Jaga took the stairs to stand beside their King, Sundara following behind silently. The King's presence was far less daunting to her now than it had been before, it was almost laughable. "Tell us," Jaga said calmly.

"Um..." _He won't._ The young lion looked out a window at the sound of laughter and pointed. "That!" And then he ran over. The grayish-yellow she-cat half-heartedly rolled her eyes, but followed her teacher and the King after Lion-O. "Hah, meow~"

Claudus growled at his son's antics and snatched the Sword of Omens from him once again. "The sword is ready, Lion-O, but you are not."

Lion-O dejectedly watched his father walk away-

_"Sorry, Little One." He ruffled her mane with a sad smile._

-and Jaga took a step past the tom, and paused to glance at him, unconvinced. "What? I didn't see anything."

"And I did not say anything." Jaga continued and Sundara followed, sparing the prince the quickest glance. She was still unsettled from the presence she felt; she could hardly imagine how shaken he was from _seeing_ it... although, what was unseen was often more terrifying than what was seen.

* * *

News of General Grune's return spread through Thundera like a wildfire, kindling excitement in the hearts of all cats. It made many of them giddy, just imagining the celebration that would take place that night.

Sundara was giddy with excitement for a completely different reason, keeping her eyes locked on one tom sunda clouded leopard, who was out of uniform and walking ever closer to her trap while conversing with another cleric. An innocent bystander who would, unfortunately for him, would also be caught in her trap.

Sundara shook her head to clear her thoughts and focused on her prey, who had conveniently stopped right where she needed him to. Smirking, her eyes glowed, and then next moment Sunda and his companion were looking very unamused, slowly beginning to wipe pink, blue, red, orange, purple, bright eye-hurting yellow, and green paint off of themselves. The pink paint can had even landed on Sunda's head like a slanted hat.

She could see him saying something from her perch beside the library window, where a book rested on her lap, on the Cleric Hall's second floor. He wiped more of the paint off while nodding slowly and calmly, while the other cleric gave him a deadpan look. And then the tom made eye-contact - _eye-contact -_ with her, even though she was on the second floor.

Swallowing hard, she brought the book up to hide her face and continued reading, one paw subconsciously pulling her formal cloak closer around her.

Not a minute later, the library's double doors opened and Jaga entered. "Jaga!" Sundara exclaimed, marking her place and tucked the book against her chest. She stood and approached her teacher with spring in her step.

"Hello, Sundara. I was hoping to speak with you." He said uncharacteristically dead-serious.

Nervously glancing back at the window from the corner of her eye, she nodded and forced a smile. "O-okay."

"Do not worry. It is nothing bad." She wasn't very comforted by his words, but they reassured she wasn't going to get in trouble for dumping paint on Sunda _yet_ - if she did at all - and she nevertheless followed him to a small table littered with pages and pages of writing and books, some open and some closed, where he had often instructed her in her studies before. A table on which she set her book down on carefully. "It is about your apprenticeship." Alarms went off in her head, but she said nothing. The she-cat kept herself from panicking by reminding herself that Jaga said it was nothing bad, and he wouldn't lie about that.

Her teacher motioned for her to sit, so she did, and he continued rather cryptically. "Preparing the Sword of Omens for ceremonies has always been the duty of the Head Cleric."

Sundara nodded, "Right..."

"Or," He began to add, "The Head Cleric's apprentice."

"Right. I know th- _wait._" It clicked, and she could form no words to express just how much _she_ could _not_ be Head Cleric, ever. By definition, she wasn't even an actual _cleric,_ so there was no way she could be _Head Cleric._ Jaga was _insane._ "W-wouldn't Cheetara be a better choice for this?" She finally managed.

The jaguar seemed amused at her reaction. "While she would make an excellent Head Cleric, I feel that you should be the one to succeed me." He answered calmly, dropping the dead-serious act that had startled her so much.

"B-but..." Her paw hung in the air, claws twitching as she weakly began her protest. "I'm not... an actual... cleric..."

"Nonsense. What matters is here, in your heart." Jaga responded, pointing below her left collarbone.

Sundara made to protest again - one of the _prerequisites_ of being a cleric was _speed -_ but closed her jaw with an audible _click_ and dipped her head. "Of course, Jaga."

She looked back up and could already see that he had planned how to continue after this. Things like succession always came paw-in-paw with a ceremony, and that ceremony generally happened soon. So, she wasn't surprised when her teacher said, "The ceremony is a brief matter that can be taken care of in the morning. But, for now, do enjoy yourself at the party, Sundara."

She dipped her head again and stood, "Of course, Jaga."

He gave her a small smile before heading out of the library and leaving her to her thoughts. She gazed around the library of books with a mixture of emotions. Stunned was a word to describe how she felt, but it was more than that. It was a blurred feeling somewhere between excitement and pure calm, not knowing how to act.

Finally she exhaled calmly, smiled and approached the library doors. "There's only one thing to do: enjoy myself." Her smile spread as she pushed the large ornate wooden doors open.

* * *

Whoo! So here's Chapter One: The Sword of Omens! I really loved writing Sundara, she's a lot of fun! Jaga, on the other paw, is _not_ one of the characters I have a grandmaster-understanding of. *Writes him on a list with Panthro* I'll definitely need to improve on him. Also, since I'm going with these 'mane' and 'paw' terms, I hope none of you minded that I tweaked some of the original script. And in my second draft of Chapter One, Jaga and Sundar aspoke during the games and we actually got to see her at the party, but all my attempts of writing the event turned out awkward, so we got this.

"Ceclia" means blind, and Ceclia is blind in an eye. Sunda was graciously borrowed from _WAR-Operative_/_ResonantEchoes_ with her permission (actually, she gave me the idea of including him, hehe). We might see a bit more of him next chapter (who knows?).


End file.
